Man, it's so hard when we are talking about my favorite power metal band, Nightwish. They are definitely unique with their gothic influenced orchestrated power metal and because they have the world's most talented female singer Tarja Turunen on their side. The album Wishmaster is the follow-up to Oceanborn, which was released 2 years ago. Over these 2 years, Nightwish has definitely evolved as a band and because of it this album is much more mature than any other album this far. But what is Nightwish all about?

It's definitely about the music and how it has changed our lives to the point where everything in the world seems perfect [remembering the song 'Dead Boy's Poem']. On Wishmaster Tuomas handles some rather difficult issues and because of it Nightwish has lost a bit of the trademark "power metal sound". But to make that up, Tuomas has concentrated on some more serious issues. For example 'Kinslayer' is a dialogue between a victim and her murderer, which is dedicated to the family and survivors of the 1999 20th April killing spree incident in Colorado when two teenagers killed 9 boys, 4 girls and finally themselves. The song 'Dead Boy's Poem' is about Tuomas' personal life, like he says it's his apology for those who he owns it to and also the ?fuck you all? statement for those who deserve it.

There are many heavy and catchy songs like my personal favorites 'FantasMic' and 'She Is My Sin' but also some slower songs ['Deep Silent Complete', 'Dead Boy's Poem']. It's a shame that there are no male vocals on this album to bring variety to the music and this is the only weak point in this almost perfect album. Overall I'd say that this is a good album but not so powerful - compared to Oceanborn - but definitely more mature. So for a power metal fan, Wishmaster is a MUST.